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A review by cate_bird
Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium by Walter S. Judd, Graham A. Judd
4.0
So back in 2015, I wrote a story about trees, and someone told me "you can't have apple trees in this story; it's near the ocean". Three years of research later I'm still obsessed with the climate zones, biomes, and geology of fantasy maps. (See this article for the kind of nerd rage such an interest leads to: https://www.tor.com/2017/10/10/tolkiens-map-and-the-perplexing-river-systems-of-middle-earth/). Early this February, I decided it might be cool to start making field journal-like illustrations of the fictional plants of various fantasy serieses (Pottermore's done a bit of this already, but not as thoroughly as my intention was). So I started googling to research LotR, thinking to make it my first project.
What I am telling you is that God ordained me to read this book.
Judd is responsible and as nonspeculative as possible with his research (I would have loved for him to dive into some creating some fanon for flora which is mentioned too briefly to connect it to a real-world descendent), taking an assumed climate zone based on known flora and positing the details of fantastic flora based on this and what descriptions can be found across Tolkien's (and, selectively, Christopher Tolkien's) writing. It's thorough, interesting, and useful to any nerd who's kind of into the idea of making up their own fantasy map complete with consistent life zones.
I do admit to not reading this book straight through, but in a more encyclopedic format, skipping around from entry to entry as interest led me, and because of that manner of reading, I think it's important to note something which may be a sign of other errors (?). For some reason Judd thinks Kingsfoil's Elven name is Athelias (not Athelas). I can find no cause for this spelling. All other canon information included was correct with my own research into this subject, so I am not sure if this was a publisher error or if I'm just missing some vital information, but don't let seeing that discrepancy deter you, as all other content is as thorough and nerdy as you might hope.
What I am telling you is that God ordained me to read this book.
Judd is responsible and as nonspeculative as possible with his research (I would have loved for him to dive into some creating some fanon for flora which is mentioned too briefly to connect it to a real-world descendent), taking an assumed climate zone based on known flora and positing the details of fantastic flora based on this and what descriptions can be found across Tolkien's (and, selectively, Christopher Tolkien's) writing. It's thorough, interesting, and useful to any nerd who's kind of into the idea of making up their own fantasy map complete with consistent life zones.
I do admit to not reading this book straight through, but in a more encyclopedic format, skipping around from entry to entry as interest led me, and because of that manner of reading, I think it's important to note something which may be a sign of other errors (?). For some reason Judd thinks Kingsfoil's Elven name is Athelias (not Athelas). I can find no cause for this spelling. All other canon information included was correct with my own research into this subject, so I am not sure if this was a publisher error or if I'm just missing some vital information, but don't let seeing that discrepancy deter you, as all other content is as thorough and nerdy as you might hope.